We’re celebrating the start of the Winter Olympics, so I thought it would be a great time to share a bit about an advanced project I’m working on. I’ve been creating a skiing app to use as a learning tool for people who get through our book, or have learned the principles of Small Basic, but want a more advanced project.

Feel free to try out and run the program and look at the code I wrote to make it happen. It’s only 180 lines of code for a fully functional skiing app! So, this is a great next step if you want something that uses many aspects of basic programming.

My family is having fun with it in our house trying to see who can get down the slope the fastest. A fun project for any beginning programmer to learn some additional concepts and see an interesting result.

Don’t worry if you cannot follow all of the code. I’m also working on a guide that will walk through exactly all that is happening in the app and how you can write this program from scratch. Stay tuned and I’ll show you exactly how it all works.

If you want to learn the basics of programming, or know a child or homeschooler wanting to learn, be sure to check out my book. It’s available for sale here or on Amazon.com. Principles of Programming uses Small Basic to teach basic concepts of programming for kids and beginners.

For those wanting a bit more info on the book, here is the introduction included in the book to help you understand who it is intended for and what you are in for should you choose to pursue. It’ll be a challenge, but is great for all students and homeschoolers.

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This book is intended for the very beginner to learn the basic concepts of programming. There’s no experience or previous instruction necessary. You’ll learn from the very beginning how computer programs run on a computer, and how to create the simplest of programs. From there, many of the core concepts used by professional programmers will be taught in an easy to learn manner. These concepts are presented in a way suitable for elementary to middle school aged children, but also very appropriate for high school and adults as well. Each lesson is intended to take approximately 30-60 minutes to read and review.

Throughout the book there are dozens example programs for the reader to work through and code. Many of these require a basic understanding of mathematics concepts, especially addition and subtraction. There are even a few that utilize multiplication and division, and a couple that use mathematics exponents and sine and cosine operations. If you are not familiar with all of these math concepts, no worries. We spend a bit of time explaining them and the key is not the math, but the coding concepts that make them work.

This book utilizes Microsoft Small Basic as the programming tool and language to teach these concepts. This is a great stepping stone to learning the specifics of any modern programming language, but is simple enough to not be overbearing in syntax or other complexities.

The key takeaway from this unit study is the core concepts that are covered in each unit. The programming language specifics are not the most important thing, but the concepts themselves are what is intended to be taught. Walking away from this unit study will enable you to begin to strengthen these concepts and be able to learn any modern programming language of today.

The book is organized in a series of lessons each teaching one to two core concepts. In each unit there is ample opportunity to learn about the core concepts and to see them in code.

History has shown that the best way to learn how to program is to write programs. There’s just no substitute for it. In addition to writing multiple programs in each unit, there are also advanced exercises in each chapter. These exercises are optional and are meant to challenge you and give you more programming practice. It’s definitely OK to skip these exercises or come back to them later, but they are very useful in challenging and learning the core concepts in more detail. The solutions to each advanced exercise are included at the end of the book. You can also download all the programs created in the book and the advanced exercise from our web site at: http://www.OneWayLogic.com/downloads.html.

Small Basic is a very simple, fully functional, programming language, created as an offshoot of the BASIC programming language which has been around for decades. The simplicity of it makes it a great choice for kids and beginners to learn how to program a computer.

Small Basic has all the tools needed to create useful programs, but not much more. As a beginner learning to code, you can focus on the core concepts and not worry about all the extras that professional level programming languages contain. Small Basic has capabilities to handle user input, drawing, mathematics, file I/O, etc. It also forces the user to program using statements and terminology that are similar to enterprise level languages. As a beginning programmer this is important because it allows the student to understand the terminology, but focus on learning to program and the core concepts involved.

Getting up and running with Small Basic is also about as simple as can be. Small Basic was created and is managed by Microsoft. To start programming, all that is needed is to download the Small Basic editor and use it to create a program. This is much easier than virtually all other programming languages in the marketplace today. Other languages require large downloads, installations, and requirements to setup a computing environment for creating an app.

Learning to program, especially for kids and beginners, should be all about the concepts and not about the semantics. Learning the semantics of various programming languages can sometimes be the most frustrating part of learning a new programming language. This is especially frustrating for a beginner learning to program as they do not have as much experience and often require extra help and time to learn new programming concepts. With Small Basic so much of this is removed. Historically the BASIC language has been a very simple language to pick up for a beginner and Small Basic follows this.

In my new book, Principles of Programming: Basic Concepts, we use Small Basic to teach kids and homeschoolers to program. The reader can be up and running in minutes and easily work through the 10 lessons we laid out on the core concepts of programming. Using Principles of Programming, the reader can learn to program in an easy to follow format with an easy to learn programming language.

Our book, Principles of Programming, is available on Amazon.com. It uses Small Basic to teach basic concepts of programming for kids and beginners.

This is a great infographic from Code.org on the potential for kids and programming. There is definitely a shortage of kids taking up programming either as a hobby or as a career. Only 10% of schools have a programming class!

With our book, Principles of Programming, we’d like to help facilitate getting kids and homeschool students interested in programming. This book is an easy self study on the basic concepts of programming.

Computer programming can be a great lifelong career, but it’s also a skill all children should learn. We all have special skills and gifts and not everyone has enough interest or desire to be a computer programmer as a career. But giving kids an introduction to computer programming is a great skill regardless of whether they will ever pursue it beyond the basic concepts. Here are a few reasons why programming for kids is super beneficial:

1. Gain a deeper understanding of computers and how they work

Our society is immersed in computers and they’re used in virtually all homes, schools, and businesses today. This isn’t going to change anytime soon. Giving children a deeper knowledge on how to use a computer and how they work will benefit them throughout their lives. Instead of having kids spend time learning to use a computer only through video games and other activities, learning basic computer programming concepts enables them to learn an important new skill.

2. Build knowledge of logic and cause and effect

Computer programs are all about cause and effect. “If a user does something in a program, then this should happen”. Learning this logic and how to think about it builds critical thinking skills. Understanding this kind of logic as a child brings benefits throughout academics, especially mathematics and science. Computer programs simply follow exactly the rules they are programmed to do. Learning to follow an app exactly as it is programmed is a great skill as it also helps teach how to break a problem up into smaller pieces.

3. Build mathematics skills through programming

Programs use mathematics heavily. Whether it is simple math like addition and subtraction, or the use of parentheses to prioritize what numbers should get processed first, these types of mathematics problems are commonly used in computer programs. Further, programs are full of basic problem solving scenarios where a number or value is entered by a user to be used in the program. These variables translate directly to basic algebra and problem solving. Learning these skills before taking algebra class can be a big boost.

4. Creativity

Programming is a quite addictive. Once a child learns the basics, they often want to try to build upon this knowledge and try something new. It sparks a creativity that is not possible elsewhere. Teaching a child to program gives them the skills to write more advanced programs and lets their imagination run wild. It is neat site to see when the kids come up with new ideas for things they’d like to program.

5. It can be a great career

Last but not least, programming can be a great career. Programmers are in very high demand and will be for the next several decades. Learning this skill at a younger age simply gives the child a leg up as they get older and are ready to learn deeper skills and prepare for the marketplace.

Here’s a link to the Principles of Programming book on Amazon.com. It’s a great programming book on the basic concepts of programming.

Programming for kids…even superstars agree. Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat says kids should definitely learn to code. He’s right. They should. Learning to code is a great way for kids of all ages to learn new skills and about technology.

Programming is a great way for kids to learn about technology and logic. It can also be a great career path for many since the use of technology in our society is ever growing. For homeschooling families teaching kids to program can be an excellent elective and is easily done in a self-paced manner.

My family homeschools our children. A big part of the reason I created the Principles of Programming book was to help them learn the concepts of programming a computer. My two oldest children (twins age 9) have been using the book for just this purpose. We look at it not as required academic subject like math, science, and history, but instead like an elective similar to a foreign language. Our kids are able to complete about each lesson in about 30-60 minutes.

The results? I’ve found that besides the kids learning the basic concepts of programming, the bigger result has been a leap in their curiosity for computers and computer programming. I’m excited that they would rather work on a conceptual problem and code a solution rather than play a video game of play on the iPod.

Your homeschool can be the same way. The Principles of Programming book is intended to be a self-study. A child can work through the book on their own. Help from a parent can of course be beneficial, but is not necessary. Check out our book and see if it’ll work for you.

Long before I was even close to finishing the writing of the book, the number one question I received was, “why are you writing this book”? The answer was simple, there are no good resources for kids who want to learn the basic concepts of programming. There are thousands of programming books on the market, but there just is nothing very compelling that is focused on kids to teach the basic concepts and inspire curiosity.

As a self-employed programmer, my kids continually ask about what I do at work and what the programs I write do. It’s great to hear these questions, and now it’s fun that my children can understand a bit of the details about what programmers do. The funny thing is, the concepts taught in the book are concepts that I use daily in my work. They’re taught at a basic level, but they are core concepts that are used to create both simple and complex programs.

Principles of Programming is meant to be a unit study for kids to spend time learning the basics, but also to inspire additional questions and curiosity. It’s not overbearing or complex. It can be used by a student as an independent study or with a parent/teacher.